Komentarze • Current State of the Industry 2017

I think the holographic tech with will fill the gap as for now, before human perfecting robotic and AI.

After the gatebox im sure there will be newer tech like projector who can presenting the hologram in real size. the lack of holographic tech, that the character cant touch you :p

Search Hanson Robotic and Boston Dynamics on youtube. Those combine, is the futureeee of our beloved figurines :D

Medicom will survive. They also have bearbrick line, an art figure. At the Tokyo comic con there is instinct toys brand, producing art figures. I never heard them, but the waiting line is looong at the show.

kinomoto (1 r. temu) #29492413Wonfes only had a couple of fate figures, there was a separate fate fes event on the same day.

I came to comment mostly to say this. What people are mistaking as "tons of Fate figures in Wonder Festival" is actually "tons of Fate figures in FGO Fest", which really shouldn't surprise anyone since FGO Fest was a Fate dedicated event. The catch? It was run the very same weekend as Wonder Festival, so there was an announcement overlap. Bad idea.

Also, the "I can't play it" excuse is kind of a joke if you're an Android user. I have, as a non JP/US/Europe player, a ridiculously tiny selection of games; probably only PoGo and that's it. But I can get around that easily.
Anyways, it hurts the developers themselves in the end, since it makes it harder to invest money in the game (not impossible though).

sliusarek (1 r. temu) #29494693
Star Wars gets a lot of figures that are made by Western companies and they're not that bad, truly. Marvel does, too. There's also Mezco, which I believe is a Western company and they make literally everything and good quality. DC is not that good with cheaper figures (Mattel), but there are options.
I'd rather have Bandai pick up some popular anime license (there are many!) rather than present another Star Wars figure.

I believe there's also very expensive companies such as First for Figures (UK based but produced in China - I think UK anyway) and I believe hot toys usually makes very expensive items too.
On which note, high prices can still sell - provided the product is damn good. But these companies don't churn out as many items as GSC or alter. I'd still rather my 80-150euro anime figures.

On a lighter note - are you sure you want Bandai grabbing licenses? They have a nasty habit of hoarding IPs and only making mediocre figures for them (see: sailor moon) xD
(although yes, it's be nice if they picked up lesser known shows to give us more choice)

nyugvo6 (1 r. temu) #29492798I see the japanese focus on western IPs as a huge loss and a tiny bit of win.
Sure there are western characters I'd love to see a proper figures of, since hasbro and the rest are simply garbage. But not when it costs me an anime figure release. Be honest, we're all here because of our love for some sort of japanese media.
I see a few reasons behind this happening but it's just my own guesswork.
1. a shift in overall interest, which would be sad when you consider they can't sell their local speciality in their own country.
2. since figure prices got way worse, local buyers don't produce good sales anymore, they try to force export more.
In either case I have little to no interest in video games, especially multiplayer ones. As much as I loved star wars as a kid, disneywars is awful compared. What really kills the franchise for me is the constant advertisement campaign, I can't take a step without someone trying to sell me something star wars. There's a line when it stops being fresh and new, and turns downright annoying. We crossed that line christmas, two years ago.
Overwatch of all things to overthrow FATE? lmao good joke.

Globalization and all.
I find it annoying, too. Japanese companies don't support their own brands and send money to the West, while West cares not about supporting Japan...
Star Wars gets a lot of figures that are made by Western companies and they're not that bad, truly. Marvel does, too. There's also Mezco, which I believe is a Western company and they make literally everything and good quality. DC is not that good with cheaper figures (Mattel), but there are options.

I'd rather have Bandai pick up some popular anime license (there are many!) rather than present another Star Wars figure. I was blown away by the amount of toys they had on Tokyo Comic-Con. Some of the classic anime (studio Ghibli films, for example) literally have no figures, some modern animes and manga that sell like water in Summer are lucky to get one or two figs and Star Wars gets dozens... I truly don't understand this.

And that Gwen-Pool that I mentioned before. What is the cultural value of GP character? She has a comic that had just started not a long time ago and has about 30 issues. It's okay to have a figure for a rising character, but let's leave it for Marvel Legends, they do a decent job at their line, but nope. Mafex wants to produce that.

I see the japanese focus on western IPs as a huge loss and a tiny bit of win.
Sure there are western characters I'd love to see a proper figures of, since hasbro and the rest are simply garbage. But not when it costs me an anime figure release. Be honest, we're all here because of our love for some sort of japanese media.
I see a few reasons behind this happening but it's just my own guesswork.
1. a shift in overall interest, which would be sad when you consider they can't sell their local speciality in their own country.
2. since figure prices got way worse, local buyers don't produce good sales anymore, they try to force export more.

In either case I have little to no interest in video games, especially multiplayer ones. As much as I loved star wars as a kid, disneywars is awful compared. What really kills the franchise for me is the constant advertisement campaign, I can't take a step without someone trying to sell me something star wars. There's a line when it stops being fresh and new, and turns downright annoying. We crossed that line christmas, two years ago.

I see a promising future of figures. With each year certain companies try out new technologies, gimmicks, paint jobs and face-printing, details become better. Bandai seems to be the flagman of the process, but Medicom improves their 1/6 scale, too. Threezero improves their Western-oriented 1/6 line.

Overall, figures are getting better, more durable and... more expensive, unfortunately. So, other than the prices going up, I see no problems at the horizon of figure collecting. I only hope that toy makers will finally start listening and taking risks with properties. I'm getting sick of seeing Star Wars, Deadpool and Marvel getting a new announcement every single month, while some great animes and even popular Western TV shows/films are being left out.

Why would Medicom close? They don't have many licenses for Mafex, but Real Action Heroes is the only source of good 1/6 anime figures. They have some poor management, that's it. People are asking them to make figures for properties that are left out, but nobody listens and nobody asks. GSC does their vote poll for Nendoroids and they explore the market, Medicom seems to sit on their own wave. Take the recently announced Gwen-Pool figure in Mafex line. I read the comic about GP and it's a fun read, but there's nothing more than the silly comic to it and it's not like she's getting a movie/cartoon any time soon. Are they releasing it thinking that everyone will get it because it has "Pool" in the name and panties as a costume?

I own a few figure from Medicom and one Mafex. They know how to develop great products, but they make some weird choices. I don't see them closing off because they are the only company that makes 1/6 anime figures as of today. Threezero can throw in some, at times, but they don't have a normal presence at Japanese market and their pre-order system of sales is just not good. They always delay, they don't give you a choice of a shipping method and they can't even establish a normal store of the figure they've released. So, RAH (Medicom) will definitely exist for a very long time. Mafex will live in a form of some occasional Marvel and Star Wars and a little bit of DC figs.

I think Japanese companies are going through the same experience that a lot of the American companies have been in the last decade, since most of the male characters come from things with strong female followings - "Oh, shit, it turns out that women actually buy this stuff in large quantities if we make stuff that they like, we've been missing out on so many chances to make money!"

It sucks that there isn't a proper release of it, but it's not too bad playing FGO outside the US and Japan - I've got US and JP FGO accounts (and, to be honest, I'll be annoyed if they end up releasing one that's supposed to be played in the UK because I've got some nice characters on those, especially on my JP, and my current phone probably can't handle three FGOs.)